Facebook and Twitter down in Pakistan

People in the country are having problems accessing social media networking services including Facebook and Twitter amid ongoing crackdown against defiant Islamabad protesters.

The move has been taken in the backdrop of growing protests across Punjab and other cities of the country against the Islamabad crackdowns.

According to analysts, it is an attempt to bar sympathizers of two religious parties, Tehreek-i-Labaik Ya Rasool Allah and Sunni Tehreek, from delivering provocative speeches through social media.

The countrywide outage was witnessed hours after the showdown. The protesters are camping out at Faizabad Interchange and putting up resistance to comply orders from authorities concerned.

Dozens of activists of Tehreek Labaik Ya Rasool Allah and Sunni Tehreek have staged protest demonstrations and blocked major roads in several cities of Punjab province to register a protest against police action.

In Lahore, a large number of religious hardliners blocked Imamia Railway crossing and Lahore-Rawalpindi road, and set tires alight, disrupting vehicular traffic.

Four people, policemen among them, were injured when the protesters clashed with police personnel in the provincial capital’s Shahdara area. A large number of activists of the protesting religious parties also gathered at the Mall Road and chanted slogans against the government.

Similar protesters were also witnessed in Pattoki, Jalapur Bhattian, Ferozwala, Gujranwala, Burewala, Serai Alamgir and Attock and other parts of the province.

The law enforcement agencies launched the operation early Saturday morning after the capital administration’s final deadline of 7am to end the Faizabad sit-in expired.